WROLD CUP: Manaus’ new stadium: majesty or extravagant folly?

The Guardian, MANAUS, Brazil

An aerial view shows the construction of the Amazonia Arena in Manaus, Brazil, on April 12.

Photo: Reuters

When the heart of the Amazon was among the richest places on Earth, local rubber barons flaunted their incredible wealth by building a spectacular opera house in Manaus using British steel, French glass and Italian marble.

At great expense, they shipped construction materials across the Atlantic and down the Rio Negro, then filled their new venue in the forest with the world’s leading musicians and conductors.

Even by the standards of the late 19th century Belle Epoque, some considered this an extravagant folly, but those behind the scheme saw themselves as pushing back the boundaries of their civilization.

More than a century later, a similar spectacle is being prepared, but this time the sultry capital of Amazonas will not be staging La Gioconda — it will be hosting the FIFA World Cup.

“History has turned full circle for Manaus,” said Eric Gamboa, of the local organizing committee. “In our last golden age, we built an opera house with plantation money. This time we are building a stadium and our money comes from industry.”

Brazil is similarly hoping to prove how far it has now come. A year from now, Manaus will be among 12 venues that look likely to provide some of the most stunning settings the beautiful game has ever known, but beyond the four-week tournament’s push into the outer reaches of the global soccer empire, the long-term legacy is far from assured due to corruption, poor management and weak attendances.

At first, it may seem strange that the sport has any ground left to conquer in Brazil. The five-time World Cup winners may not be the home of soccer, but Brazil is arguably where the game has been played with the greatest style, passion and success.

The government is spending 31 billion reais (US$14.4 billion) on the World Cup to accelerate social and economic development, and to modernize the image of Brazil from the Rio-centric stereotypes of samba, carnival and beaches.

By building and refurbishing stadiums, it aims to demonstrate the maturity of a nation that has moved in the past 50 years from dictatorship to democracy, from hyperinflation to stable economic growth and from staggering inequality toward a somewhat more balanced society.

No one pretends Brazil is there yet. Although it is vying with Britain to be the world’s fifth-biggest economy, it is racked by chronic problems, many of which have become evident in the cities that will stage World Cup games next year.

Manaus is a case in point. While six of the host cities will participate in the FIFA Confederations Cup test event that starts on Saturday, the construction of the Amazonia Arena is over time, over budget and likely to be underused once its four World Cup matches are over.

Building a venue in this remote island city of 2.3 million residents was always going to be a stretch. Located in one of the planet’s last great wildernesses, Manaus is doubly isolated — first by the confluence of the Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes, then by a sea of green forest that stretches close to 950km on all sides. The electric storms that buffet Manaus sometimes overload the local grid and burn out computers, air conditioners and fridges. Rainy-season downpours can turn a building site into a swimming pool. The equatorial sunlight is so intense that it can bleach colored plastic seating.

This makes everything more difficult and expensive, yet the planners opted for a complex steel-lattice design, which is ostensibly modeled on a traditional hand-woven basket, but looks remarkably similar to the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium in Beijing.